Introgressive hybridization and latitudinal admixture clines in North Atlantic eels ...

• Main Authors: Wielgoss, Sébastien, Gilabert, Aude, Meyer, Axel, Wirth, Thierry
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2014
• Subjects: Anguilla anguilla; Anguilla rostrata; Gene flow; Isolation-by-distance; Simulation; Migration barriers; Iceland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000083693; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/83693

Background Hybridization, the interbreeding of diagnosably divergent species, is a major focus in evolutionary studies. Eels, both from North America and Europe migrate through the Atlantic to mate in a vast, overlapping area in the Sargasso Sea. Due to the lack of direct observation, it is unknown how these species remain reproductively isolated. The detection of inter-species hybrids in Iceland suggests on-going gene flow, but few studies to date have addressed the influence of introgression on genetic differentiation in North Atlantic eels. Results Here, we show that while mitochondrial lineages remain completely distinct on both sides of the Atlantic, limited hybridization is detectable with nuclear DNA markers. The nuclear hybridization signal peaks in the northern areas and decreases towards the southern range limits on both continents according to Bayesian assignment analyses. By simulating increasing proportions of both F1 hybrids and admixed individuals from the southern to the northern-most ... : BMC Evolutionary Biology, 14 ...